The present invention relates to vegetation cutting devices and more particularly to farm implements used for cutting, mowing, shredding, or chopping plant growth.
Flail type farm implements have become available for use as shredders, mowers, choppers, and the like. Such implements are generally attached to a tractor and power is taken from the tractor for driving the flail cutters. U.S. Pat. No. 2,902,813 to Brady entitled VEGETATION CUTTING MEANS discloses a device for macerating undesired plant growth by means of a rotary blade. U.S. Pat. No. 2,888,795 to Lundell discloses a rotary device for chopping corn. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,092,946 and 3,159,957 to Mathews describe a rotary scythe for hay and like crops for cutting the crop without chopping the vegetation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,958 to Mathews discloses a rotary chopper for hay and like crops. In such devices, a rotor is mounted within an elongated housing which is propelled by a tractor along an axis perpendicular to the housing, and the rotor is provided with blades which sever vegetation extending from the terrain over which the device moves.